


the girl who heard the raindrops

by revior



Category: Enola Holmes (2020)
Genre: 19th Century, Angst, Canon Compliant, Character Death, Don't copy to another site, F/M, Friendship/Love, Love Confessions, Medical Inaccuracies, Moving In Together, Post-Canon, Sad Ending, TAGS INCLUDE SPOILERS, Tags Are Hard, probably
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:01:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26947105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/revior/pseuds/revior
Summary: Enola Holmes moved into Tekwsbury's home to escape the wrath of her brother but somehow stayed there for longer than intended.But the universe just wouldn't let them stay in place.(or the alternate ending nobody asked for)
Relationships: Enola Holmes & Viscount "Tewky" Tewksbury, Enola Holmes/Viscount "Tewky" Tewksbury
Comments: 28
Kudos: 141





	the girl who heard the raindrops

_the girl who heard the raindrops_

_(and the boy who cried them)_

* * *

A thunder rattled outside as Enola tossed and turned in her bed, desperately trying to sleep.

She knew that she wouldn’t be able to do it, but still she wanted to try. She had grown bored of staying away every single night and waiting until the dawn because she couldn’t sleep anymore. She wanted to curse the gods for making the weather in England so bad, knowing that one girl in southern England couldn’t fall asleep if there was rain going on outside.

She wasn’t scared of lightning bolts and thunder, and they didn’t excite her either. They just made it incredibly hard for her to not think about anything else and it was a very annoying thing to have when one was trying to fall asleep.

To be precise, Holmes had no way of finding peace anywhere when there was rain.

For some unknown reason, the girl stood up and walked outside, walking the big hallways of Tewksbury’s home with just a candle and an incredibly oversized shirt she had found the day before.

She thought that it would be easier for her to fall asleep once she moved to there as the place somehow felt more comforting, but not much changed. Storms still made her nervous and she still lacked sleep. She just had a more comfortable mattress that made it easier to get through the nights.

Enola Holmes knocked on the door that she found herself at. “Are you awake?”

She heard a grunt and footsteps coming towards the door, then the wooden thing swung open. “Yes, I’m awake now. Couldn’t sleep, I assume.”

“Your assumption is correct.”

“I am looking forward to the day when you find some sort of comfort in the rain. The way I see it, it’s like natural music.”

Enola sighed. “And I see it in a different way. You know that I would go to sleep and not disturb you almost every night if I had the chance to do that. I also want to sleep.”

“I understand that,” smiled the Viscount kindly. He was silent for a few moments – the entire estate was silent for those few moments – before finally saying something. “You know, you really a complicated individual, Enola Holmes.”

“I just want to remind you that I saved you from your grandmother who tried to murder you. My complications just make me a better person. Maybe not exactly a better person, they just give me special talents like solving crimes.”

“Oh, do not flatter yourself. You only solved one crime, and even if I am thankful for what you did, it definitely doesn’t make you a detective like your brother.”

Enola rolled her eyes, stepping into the warm bedroom. “I know you’re just jealous that you weren’t the one to solve it, Viscount.”

“What art thou saying, milady? Surely not that I am a jealous individual,” laughed the Marquess.

“If you somehow end up losing your estate, your title, and all your other belongings, you could try a career in time traveling and being Shakespeare. I am certain that they will accept you with open arms.”

The girl sat down on a rocking chair that had been placed there a few days prior just for Enola.

“I cannot understand why you’re always so mean to me. I have welcomed you here with open arms just for you to insult me every chance you get,” mumbled Tewksbury, playing hurt. “If you continue doing this, I will send you to that school you ran away from. I am certain that Ms. Lane will accept you with open arms.”

The boy knew that his comeback was good when Enola went quiet for a full minute, staring at him with her eyes open wide and her mouth dropped open. “You are an evil individual, Marquess. But for some reason, I don’t exactly hate you.”

“I think it would be impossible to hate someone like me, don’t you think? I am just too good of an individual for anyone to have any negative feelings towards me.”

Enola didn’t answer to that, instead, she just continued rocking backward and back forward in the chair she had grown to be so fond of in just a matter of days.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t hear the rain anymore.”

Holmes listened for any sound from the outside but couldn’t hear anything. “You’re right. This means that I’m off to bed now. Sleep well, Tewksbury.”

“Sleep well, Holmes.”

The girl walked out of the room and returned to her room, not bothering to take off the shirt before going to bed. Nobody would mind if it became more wrinkled anyway.

* * *

The days merged into weeks and those turned into months. The rain became less common and the girl could finally sleep better, although still not perfectly.

She had finally mastered the skill of riding a bike and even learned how to properly stay on a horse, even though she was still perfecting that skill as the stallion still threw her off from time to time.

Tewksbury and Holmes grew a lot closer and intimate throughout that period of time and people who didn’t know them well often mistook them for a newly married couple; they had to assure them that there was no romantic relationship between the two every single time and they had started to grow tired of it.

But unfortunately, everything wasn’t perfect, even if they wanted it to be.

Enola had started having problems breathing from time to time and the coughing scared both her and her friend.

The doctor assured them that it wasn’t tuberculosis which made the huge stone roll off both their chests. However, the specialist couldn’t exactly figure out what the girl was suffering from. He spent an hour explaining how she was going to be alright, mostly convincing Tewksbury as Enola had believed him just after a few minutes.

* * *

“Hercules, go faster,” instructed Enola, looking at her friend who was approaching her at a strange speed. The horse seemed to have understood her and sped up, gaining a bit of an advantage in front of Tewksbury and his own horse.

A few minutes later, Holmes was at the stables, beating her friend for just a few moments. “I win,” she exclaimed.

“Indeed, you do. But that’s just because I went easy on you, not because you’re actually a better rider. I was afraid you would fall off.”

That statement was partially true.

The Viscount was scared that his friend would somehow hurt herself, but he didn’t let that stop him from going as fast as he could and making Enola try to go even faster.

“Whatever. You are just too proud to admit that a girl beat you at something as manly as riding.”

“I assure you that riding isn’t only a manly thing. And while we’re talking about you beating me, you can probably beat me in just about every little thing besides being silent and sleeping well.”

The complete truth in that statement made both of them laugh extremely hard, but then Enola’s laughter somehow turned into an aggressive cough that just wouldn’t and wouldn’t stop.

Tewksbury called for the caretaker and instructed him to go fetch any sort of medical personnel there was on the estate.

* * *

A doctor from London came about an hour later, examining Enola for tuberculosis again, discovering that she hadn’t contracted it since the visit of the other doctor. “I believe that she is alright, and if she isn’t, she is definitely not suffering of anything that cannot be easily treated.”

Tewksbury wasn’t any more convinced by the London doctor than by the other one that had examined Enola before. “What can you do to help her?”

“There is not much we can do as her condition isn’t identified yet, but I would say, try to limit her physical activities and don’t put her in any cold or wet places. And never ever both.”

* * *

And just like that, time stopped passing rapidly again.

The girl mostly stayed in her room, first because Tewksbury wouldn’t let her do much else and then because her health had gotten much worse and couldn’t do much else even if she wanted to.

The boy had stayed with her in her room throughout most of every day and every night.

Even if the two weren’t in a good situation at that moment, they were as happy as they could get. They found out just about everything about each other and read each other numerous books and stories.

Rain started appearing more and more again, making time pass even slower for Enola.

Even Tewksbury had started to be attentive when the rain started and found it increasingly difficult to fall asleep knowing that his friend couldn’t do it.

“How are you?” he asked one day, sitting on the edge of the girl’s bed as he helped her eat her lunch.

“I’m not as well as I used to be, but I’ve also been worse. I know things aren’t going to go on for much longer but being okay with it makes it all a little more tolerable.”

The Viscount couldn’t bring himself to answer to that, mostly because he knew that he had no decent answer that would make things any better for either of them.

Lying to her and telling her that everything would be alright wouldn’t help things at all, but he needed to assure himself too. “It’s all going to be alright, I promise you.”

* * *

The pain became stronger and stronger and all Tewksbury wished for was to be able to make it all a little more tolerable. But he knew that the most he could do were be next to her when she needed him and do everything he could to take her mind away from the state she was in.

So that was what he did. He ate and slept in the room where she did, making the servants install his bed in the same room as hers.

“I never did thank you for everything you have done for me, have I?” asked Enola all of a sudden, taking Tewksbury by surprise.

By then, she had lost a considerable amount of weight and she looked straight out of a war painting.

“You really do not have to thank me for anything, Enola. If anything, I should be the one thanking you for everything you’ve done for me ever since I met you.”

“But I haven’t really done anything that special. I have just stayed by your side and took over your life for the past few months. You have been worrying about me without a stop and your mind is seldom occupied by anything else than me. I doubt any sane person would thank someone for all that.”

“You’ve given me a lot more than that but I know that it could be difficult for you to understand that.”

There was a strange silence between the two and neither knew what to say when Enola finally broke the ice. “I know that it’s all ending for me, you know. And I know that it’s not as far away as we might wish it to be.”

“That is simply not true, Enola.”

“We don’t need to lie to ourselves anymore. We both know what’s to come, so let’s just face it. I’m just sad that I haven’t gotten more time with you. Because every moment in the last year or so has been better just because of your presence.”

“My life has been a lot better ever since I met you.”

They didn’t realize just how absurd their words were, saying that their lives had been better when there was hardly anything involved besides insomnia and sadness, but somehow their words made complete sense to one another.

“I am happy that I got the chance to be with you for as long as I have. I just hope that we’ll be able to get a few more moments together,” mumbled Enola, a few tears slipping from her eyes.

Tewksbury didn’t know what to say and instead just focused that power on keeping the tears from making it to the surface.

* * *

The rain outside was extremely loud as the two young ones sat on Enola’s bed, wrapped in a warm embrace. The raindrops fell onto the glass of the window, but for some reason, the rain was a lot more peaceful than usual.

Enola coughed, and the boy waited as the action repeated itself multiple times. On normal occasions, he would call for the doctor that was in the other room, but he knew that it was too late. Both him and Enola knew it very well.

“You’re going to be okay, Enola,” lied the Marquess, hoping that his words would somehow soothe the pain that she was in.

She smiled, the corner of her lip stained red from the blood. “It’s okay. I know what is going to happen to me. You don’t need to tell me lies to make me feel better.”

The boy nodded, ashamed that he did something like that, even if it was just to help her. “I love you, Enola Holmes.”

“You sure chose a convenient time to tell me that,” said the girl. “I love you too.”

The fact that the feeling was mutual made Tewksbury’s heartache even harder than it already did.

“We lost so much time just spiting each other, didn’t we?” asked the Viscount to which the girl nodded. “Who knows where we would be if we just admitted what we have felt since the beginning. Or at least any time earlier than this.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Enola. You did nothing wrong, I want you to know that.”

There was a silence for a while before Holmes slightly opened her lips and the boy leaned forward, approaching his ear to the girl’s mouth.

“I finally found peace in the rain, Tewksbury,” whispered Enola, her voice to quiet for the Marquess to be able to hear the pain in it.

The girl closed her eyes and blew out all the air from her lungs. The Viscount waited and waited for her to take another breath, but that didn’t come. No matter how long he waited, it just didn’t come.

Tears started welling up in his eyes and he covered his mouth to not let his sobs be too loud.

He had never cried as much before in his life, not even when his father died.

He tried to help her, he did everything he could, but the universe was just against them.

Tewksbury just couldn’t force himself to let go of her body, even when it was slowly growing colder and colder. He just couldn’t bear the thought of having to let go of the person he had loved the most in his life, knowing that he would have to spend the rest of his life alone.

Somehow, Enola’s name truly was there for a purpose.

* * *

As the boy watched the wooden casket be lowered into the ground, he could feel the tears fall down his ears again. He had barely stopped himself from crying since her death but he knew that saying goodbye to her one final time would be hard, almost as hard as saying goodbye to her for the first time was.

He took a freshly cut rose from the bucket and walked to the hole that was dug for that specific occasion. He dropped the rose onto the casket, but he couldn’t bring himself to turn around and walk away. He had to tell the only love of his life what had been on his mind for the past few days.

“Life is quiet right now. It just doesn’t feel right. Life isn’t supposed to be quiet, or maybe it just wasn’t when you were around. I used to think that sometimes you were too loud, now I wish that you were here to make things right again. Do you know what is quiet? Death. But now that Death has you, Death will never be without a voice, without a ruckus, without the perpetual storm on the horizon, without an angry storm sweeping in. You are sound. You _are_ life.”

_End._

**Author's Note:**

> i'm sorry? this idea came into my head and it just wouldn't get out until I wrote it...
> 
> please come scream at me on [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/bluebrownskies) or just here in the comments.
> 
> i got comments on my other fics from people asking if they can make podfics/translations/fanart, and yes please do. just make sure to credit me and tell me where I can find it so I can show you love
> 
> :/


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